Scammers and cyber attackers find cryptocurrencies an easy prey. They can earn enormous amounts. Credit card fraud or other types of scams are no longer as appealing to cyber attackers. Scammers who can steal millions of dollars from crypto protocols in one go did not remain idle in the second quarter.
Crypto Hack Report
The security company Immunefi, which examines cyber attacks in the blockchain field, addressed the hack incidents in the second quarter of 2024. Attacks in the second quarter of 2024 more than doubled compared to the same period in 2023. While losses amounted to $572 million in the second quarter of this year, the loss was $220 million in 2023.
In fact, the amount of damage caused by attacks in crypto was decreasing in 2024. The same blockchain research company reported a 23% decrease for the first quarter. The decrease in the amount of loss caused by attacks continued throughout April. However, things changed at the end of May.
On May 31, with the seizure of the DMM exchange’s wallet private address, assets worth $305 million were stolen from the exchange. The second largest attack in the second quarter was the hack incident experienced by Turkey’s BtcTurk exchange. Just 2 attacks accounted for 62% of the losses in the quarter.
DeFi Lagged Behind
Usually, the losses experienced by decentralized exchanges and protocols always find a place on the agenda, but this quarter was different. 70% of the total loss, amounting to $401 million, was due to losses experienced by centralized exchanges. Losses in the DeFi area decreased by 25% compared to the second quarter of 2023, falling to $171 million.
71% of the losses in decentralized protocols occurred on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. These two networks continue to be the main focus of cyber attackers. There is also an increase in attacks on Ethereum layer2 solutions. For example, there were 4 attacks on the Arbitrum network, accounting for 5.5% of the losses.
Immunefi’s founder Mitchell Amador commented on the security of centralized exchanges, highlighting the outlook for this quarter;
“This quarter reminds us once again that infrastructure risks can be the most devastating attacks in crypto, as a single breach can lead to millions in losses. We saw that losses increased due to attacks targeting centralized exchange infrastructure, and despite fewer attacks in this sector, it surpassed DeFi.”
